Overview
- A Brooklyn resident flagged down a sanitation crew after realizing two family rings had been thrown away and the department found the heirlooms when it searched the truck’s load from July 28.
- The items recovered were a gold-and-diamond promise ring and a four-generation platinum-and-diamond engagement ring that the Department of Sanitation described as irreplaceable.
- DSNY isolated the sanitation truck, slowly dumped its contents onto a concrete tipping floor and located the rings within about 10 minutes while staff and the resident searched the trash.
- The city says a single truck can carry up to about 20,000 pounds of trash and that timely calls to 311 are essential because once a truck unloads at a transfer station the material is quickly mixed and items are usually unrecoverable.
- The department posted the recovery as a success story, noted that similar searches occur multiple times a year, and used the incident to publicize its recovery process and urge prompt reporting of lost valuables.